Hello everyone!
My little surprise for December 10th is my favorite short film by Georges Méliès (1861 – 1938), for me one of the geniuses in the history of civilization.
I look at this clip as a metaphor for what we are aiming at with our performances as magicians, and with the most simple and commonplace of instruments, a deck of cards. I mean, it’s not a Steinway Concert Grand Piano for more than 170’000 USD, just a very good deck of cards for under 10 USD. But people like Ricky Jay, René Lavand or Juan Tamariz create a similar esthetic experience, not the same, of course, but similar, in a way. A deck of cards reminds me of Picasso, who could take just a pencil, which most use to write a shopping list, and create great art that nowadays sells for hundreds of millions… Ah, you see, that’s why FISM bestowed upon me the award for “Theory and Philosophy” 🙂
I used to show this clip for many years before my lectures, as a prologue, and I have no doubt that you will like it. For a change this is a short one, just under 3 minutes 🙂
Maybe it will motivate you to do a little research on Méliès – It’s easy, as there is quite a bit of information on the Internet, and of course in wonderfully illustrated books about his life and work, and even movies: remember Hugo, by Martin Scorsese, winner of 5 Oscars, with Ben Kingsley? And not to forget the commercially available DVD collections with many of Méliès’s works, still available for little money.
To watch Cartes by Georges Méliès CLICK HERE.
Enjoy!
How cool was that!. The plot of this little sequence is actually not outdated at all ! It could well play nowadays !
Thank you for this !
Thank you, Roberto. Your daily gifts have become the highlight of my mornings. Today’s was especially interesting. Watching it, it took me back to a nostalgic feeling of what magic used to invoke as a child.
Great clip. Don’t know if you’re aware of the Les Melies Limited edition playing cards put out by Bicycle but thought I’d mention it. Glad to send my unopened pack to Roberto if you want it Sir as a thanks for this enjoyable advent calendar!